Goodyear has announced the finalists for it’s 25th Annual North America Highway Hero Award. 

“Each year, we are amazed by truck drivers from the United States and Canada who put their lives on the line to help others,” said Steve McClellan, Goodyear vice president for commercial tire systems. “We truly are in awe of these brave men and women who travel our highways.”

Each of the truck drivers were named finalists because they risked their lives to save others. This year’s finalists are:

Rick Tower, of Yreka, Calif. - a driver for Earl Bryant Trucking was heading home on Highway 96 near Horse Creek, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2007, when a westbound car left the roadway and landed in the swift Klamath River. Tower jumped from his rig and ran to the riverbank, seeing that the car was floating downstream. Hearing an elderly woman screaming for help, he jumped into the river and swam to the car. Fighting a strong current, he managed to free the woman from the car before it sank. She suffered only a broken ankle and hypothermia.

Richard Filiczkowski, of Bountiful, Utah - On I-90 in South Dakota in April 2007, the C.R. England driver was roused from the bunk by his wife and co-driver, Janet, who just witnessed a car leave the road and drive into a pond. Once she stopped the rig, her husband jumped out, ran a quarter-mile and plunged into the frigid 8-foot-deep water, as he could hear a child in the car screaming. Joined by two other passers-by, Filiczkowski forced open the car’s rear hatch and pulled a young girl to safety. Despite the rescuers’ best efforts to free the girl’s father, he died at the scene. The Filiczkowski’s attended Dr. Jeff Bern’s funeral at the request of his widow, and the two families remain in close contact.

David Glenn Virgoe, of Innisfil, Ontario - The Wilburn Archer Trucking driver was killed in June 2007 on Highway 400 near Bradford, Ontario. Three speeding cars weaving in and out of traffic forced Virgoe’s empty tanker truck into the median guardrail. To avoid slamming into oncoming traffic across the median, Virgoe swerved his careening truck to the right and drove instead into a ditch on the right side of the road. He was killed in the crash. Three men were charged with dangerous driving resulting in death, and witnesses and police hailed Virgoe as a hero. Survivors include his wife, three children and five grandchildren.

Ronnie D. Greene, of Regina, N.M - Greene, a driver for A. Passmore & Sons, and fellow driver Brian Peterson were en route to Albuquerque on U.S. 84 near Espanola, N.M., on April 27, 2007, when they saw a pregnant woman being attacked and run over by a pickup truck.  The woman’s boyfriend, who had beat her earlier at their home, reportedly tried to pull her into his truck before hitting her with the vehicle’s door and running over her legs and pelvis. Greene, a former firefighter and paramedic, ran to the injured woman and helped her stand.  The boyfriend wheeled around and tried to run over the woman and Greene, who pushed her between his truck and trailer, shielding her with his body. The enraged man tried three more times to run over Greene and the woman.  On the final attempt, the pickup truck struck another passerby who also had left his vehicle to help the woman. When the pickup left the area, Greene placed the woman in his truck cab with Peterson, and then he went to help the fellow Good Samaritan, Michael Rutkowski, who died with the truck driver at his side.

Journalists from the trucking industry are now voting on the four finalists, who will be featured March 27 at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. One driver will be named the 2007 Goodyear North America Highway Hero at the Truck Writers of North America annual banquet and receive a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a plaque and a specially designed ring; the other finalists will receive a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond and plaque.

Founded by Goodyear in 1983, the Highway Hero program recognizes professional truck drivers and the often unnoticed, life-saving rescues and roadside assistance they provide as their jobs take them across North America.

For more on the program, go to http://www.goodyear.com/truck/news/hero.html.